Abortion Providers in Virginia Need Our Support

I met Rosemary W. Codding, the Director of Patient Services at the Falls Church Health Center in Virginia, a couple of months ago. Since the first moment I spoke to her, I felt that she was the kind of person that could be my mentor. Rosemary has committed her time to providing safe and personalized care to women and their families. Her great staff of board certified doctors, counselors and health educators provide wellness opportunities for maternity, infertility, birth control, adoption and abortioncare every single day to Virginia women.

Since 2010, the fight against women’s reproductive rights has increased dramatically for Rose’s clinic and the other abortion clinics in Virginia. These clinics need our support; without it, they will all close down one, one by one.

According to NARAL Pro-Choice America’s annual report, in 2011 legislators around the country were passing bills limiting access to abortion services. At the national level, the House passed eight different bills related to reproductive rights, up from one vote in 2010, three votes in 2009 and zero in 2008. However, the most damage has happened at the state level. In 2011, 26 states enacted 69 new limits on abortion rights. That’s the second-highest number since NARAL started counting in 1995. The highest? In 1999, 70 such measures were passed around the country. Over 700 anti-abortion rights measures have been passed around the US since 1995.

The state of Virginia has been the most affected by these laws. In December of 2011, Bob McDonnell approved new guidelines that will actually enforce many abortion providers to close their clinics. The clinics are required to meet the same physical requirements as hospitals; otherwise, they will be considered illegal for providing abortions or any other service for women. According to the Government’s office, the new rules are “common sense” regulations that will help ensure the safety and well-being of patients.

The truth behind this law is that it will create huge costs and problems for abortion clinics. This is especially suspicious when one considers that, through legislation, state governments are increasingly dictating the minute details of private healthcare in ways that many healthcare providers find questionable.

In 2008, there were 50 abortion providers in Virginia. Today, there are only 22. This has to do with the new regulations. We need to support the Virginia abortion providers.

The deadline for the abortion clinics to meet the hospital standards is coming up. Providers have not able to meet the standards for the new law. Most of the centers and their buildings are at least two decades old, if not older. Clinics in Virginia are now being forced to spend thousands of dollars that they don’t have on architectural analyses, just to document what construction is needed just to stay open.

They need our help to raise $14,000 to pay an architect for this critical information by the end of April. If you want to support and help them, you can make a tax-deductible donation to the Abortion Care Network.

Event a small donation can make a difference. We need to stand against the laws that are harming women’s reproductive rights, and protect providers like Rosemary who are working for the health and safe care of women.